Skip to content
Disclosure Archives
Topical hub · U.S. Navy UAP encounters

U.S. Navy UAP encounters: Tic Tac, Nimitz, GIMBAL, GO FAST, and every documented incident

Every documented U.S. Navy encounter with unidentified anomalous phenomena, from the 2004 Nimitz/USS Princeton 'Tic Tac' encounter forward. Includes the FLIR videos officially released by DoD in April 2020, the routine east-coast incidents reported by Carrier Strike Group 12 pilots from 2014-2015, and named-pilot testimony.

The U.S. Navy is the most documented service-branch source of modern UAP encounters. Three factors drive that: the Navy's high-quality FLIR/ATFLIR sensor data on Super Hornet aircraft, the ATFLIR data sharing pipeline that the Navy formalized in 2019 to encourage incident reporting, and the willingness of named Navy pilots (Cmdr. David Fravor, Lt. Ryan Graves, Lt. Cmdr. Alex Dietrich) to testify publicly.

This hub aggregates every Navy-source incident in the database — the original 2004 Nimitz/USS Princeton 'Tic Tac' encounter, the 2014-2015 east-coast incursions reported by Strike Fighter Squadron VFA-11 and others, the three FLIR videos (FLIR1, GIMBAL, GO FAST) declassified and released by DoD on April 27, 2020, and the post-2022 incidents reported through the AARO portal.

Why the Navy specifically. Navy pilots fly extensive over-water training routes off both coasts where the absence of civilian air traffic surfaces anomalous tracks more cleanly than Air Force interior airspace, and Navy ATFLIR pods produce sensor recordings that survive declassification review better than other intelligence imagery.

All entries

2 entries · sorted newest first

Sighting
Featured

Routine UAP incursions reported off the U.S. East Coast

F/A-18F crews assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 11, operating from Naval Air Station Oceana, report routine encounters with UAP off the U.S. East Coast. Two of the three Pentagon-released videos — 'GIMBAL' and 'GO FAST' — are recorded during this period.

Sighting
Featured

USS Nimitz strike group reports the 'Tic Tac' encounter

Aircrews from the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group report repeated radar contacts and a daylight visual encounter with a small, white, smooth, Tic Tac–shaped object during a training exercise in the Pacific. One of three Pentagon videos later released by the Department of Defense (FLIR1) documents a portion of the event.

Frequently asked

What was the Tic Tac encounter?
A November 14, 2004 incident off the coast of San Diego in which Cmdr. David Fravor and Lt. Cmdr. Alex Dietrich, flying F/A-18F Super Hornets from the USS Nimitz strike group, intercepted an oblong, white object the radar of the USS Princeton had been tracking for several weeks.
What are FLIR1, GIMBAL, and GO FAST?
Three short Navy ATFLIR (Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared) sensor recordings captured by F/A-18 pilots and officially released by the U.S. Department of Defense on April 27, 2020. The Navy confirmed the videos are real and that the objects in them remain unidentified.
Are these videos declassified?
Yes — DoD's April 27, 2020 release explicitly stated the videos were cleared for public release and that releasing them did not impact U.S. national security or reveal sensitive sensor capabilities. The original press release link is included on the relevant event pages.
What is the 2019 Navy ATFLIR reporting pipeline?
A formal procedure the Navy adopted in 2019 to standardize how aviators report unexplained sightings, including via the use of ATFLIR sensor data. The change followed the 2014-2015 east-coast encounters and is credited with the rise in officially-reported Navy UAP cases.

Looking for related material? Browse the full timeline, the on-the-record witnesses, or every topical tag.